Disney's Plans Subject To Review Company Decides To Let County And State Have Their Say

Disney's big plans

March 13, 1990|By Robin Benedick of The Sentinel Staff

For the first time, Walt Disney Co. may play by the same rules as other developers who want to build huge shopping, office and housing projects in Central Florida.

State and local planners will have a say later this year on Disney's plans to build the region's largest shopping mall and the company's first subdivision in Osceola County. On Monday, planners were trying to predict the project's effect on Central Florida's quality of life.

''It's a real positive sign that Disney is willing to remove the shield it's always had from any type of regional and state review,'' said Paul Bradshaw, a Florida Department of Community Affairs official who reviews growth plans for the state's 67 counties.

Until now, Disney has been able to grow with no oversight from state or local governments and without having to pay impact fees for the services its growth requires. That's because a 1967 state law lets Disney control itself through its quasi-government, the Reedy Creek Improvement District. Reedy Creek's residents are Disney employees who elect the government, although few live in the district.

But Disney's latest expansion is expected to be reviewed by state and local planners, giving Osceola County commissioners the final say. That's because Disney plans to turn over its 4,000-acre development to the county so that it can keep control of the Reedy Creek district.

Bradshaw and regional planners said Disney, which built Central Florida's premier fantasy world, now must live in the real world of improving roads and building schools and affordable housing.

''Disney is going to have to do the same things other developers do,'' said Cliff Guillet, executive director of the East Central Florida Regional Planning Council, which will review Disney's latest plans.

But planners may not be able to review all of Disney's future projects. Guillet said Disney has asked for a clause in its development plan saying the company is voluntarily being reviewed but is still exempt from growth-management rules that require large projects to be reviewed by local and state planners. Disney will speak to regional planners on March 21.

Although they haven't seen Disney's proposal, planners worry about the project's impact on Interstate 4. With Universal Studios Florida opening in June and a separate $1 billion Disney expansion planned for later this decade, I-4 could become a parking lot, they warned.

Instead of widening I-4 at a cost of more than $1 billion, Disney is likely to propose using buses or other mass transit to move visitors around its property and get people out of cars, planners said.

''You're talking about lots of roads to handle that kind of traffic,'' said Osceola Planning Director Mike Kloehn. ''Lots of roads.''

For Disney, the real challenge will come later this year when planners have a voice in how the company plans to develop its 30,000 acres. Under a 1985 state law, Reedy Creek must submit a growth-management plan outlining development through the year 2000. The plan must show how Disney will provide roads, affordable housing and water and sewer plants before new development occurs.